David Arkles, ANZ regional sales director, Zebra Technologies
We are entering the era of integrated intelligence, with predictions that there will be 4.9 billion connected “things” in use by 2020. At the same time companies are facing shrinking workforces globally, meaning processes need to be improved and streamlined to reduce the time spent on each task, decrease the possibility of costly errors, and maintain maximum efficiency as much as possible. The Internet of Things (IoT) is one such way in which enterprises can achieve that goal. A global study by Forrester Consulting revealed that senior IT decision makers inside key industries believe that the IoT will be transformational to their businesses.
The same study showed that Australia and New Zealand have a particularly high rate of adoption, with nearly 50% of businesses expected to have implement IoT solutions before the end of 2015. (Source: Forrester study commissioned by Zebra, 2014). Australian and New Zealand businesses also ranked Wi-Fi tracking as the most important element of IoT solutions, followed by mobile computing and GPS tracking.
Radio-frequency identification, or RFID, is one way that businesses across Australia are harnessing the power of IoT to improve businesses processes to save time and money. With RFID, businesses can identify and track their resources wherever they are, providing them real-time feedback and greater visibility into their processes. However, technology can only be as good as the way in which they are utilized and implemented. With the RFID market worth over US$9 billion and expected to rise to $27.31 billion in 2024, it is crucial to understand the ins and outs of proper RFID encoding, printing and implementation.
Top 3 considerations for RFID smart label printing / encoding
Accurate RFID encoding is critical to every deployment. If the printer / encoder do not perform the tag data and item association correctly, errors can propagate throughout the entire supply chain. Following the tips described below can help you get more from your smart label printing system by improving reliability, minimizing operator intervention, reducing label wastage, preventing encoding and printing errors, and yielding more usable labels per media roll.
1. Selecting the right media
Select a printer that prints and encodes on-pitch
On-pitch RFID printers encode tags at the same pitch as specified by the inlay manufacturer, thus eliminating the extra process of spreading apart the inlays prior to encoding. Successful on-pitch printing requires printers designed with tight mechanical tolerances, advance Radio Frequency technology and intelligent firmware. It must also be able to easily integrate with wireless networking, provide a future-proofed path for upgrades as RFID standards evolve, and be flexible enough to support various inlay types as required.
Match the chip position to the printer / encoder
RFID users should perform testing to find the best frequency, protocol, inlay manufacturer and design for their application’s needs. A common mistake is to place a large order for smart labels early on in the testing phase without making sure the media meets optimization requirements for the chosen printer / encoder. As most smart label media are not interoperable among different brands of printers / encoders, they will require calibration to the specific printer / encoder model to ensure proper alignment and encoding.
2. Printer management
Centralised management tasks
With the consolidation of operations that is prevalent in most manufacturing and IT organizations, there is a trend toward centralized management and administration of peripheral equipment, including printers. Now, users can manage all their networked printers globally from a single desktop application and “push” changes to printers as needed. Other printer management options use a “pull” networking task. This allows IT administrators to configure and load printer information on a networked server once, then allow the printers to pull the data as needed.
Pick printer placement carefully
Encoding performance can improve simply by allowing some physical space between the printer / encoder and other RF products that share the same bandwidth. Interference may result if the printer / encoder is next to or directly above or below other RF devices.
Maximise encoding success
Printer / encoder should perform two tag quality checks. The first check, prior to encoding, verifies that the inlay is functional and can receive data. The second check verifies that data is encoded and stored on the chip correctly. Avoid the practice of manually aligning labels, which is common in barcoding. The best practice is to adjust label location through printer / encoder commands or through label design software.
Limit error messages
Inlays fail to encode for a variety of reasons. While it is fairly uncommon, failure to encode on the first try does not necessarily indicate a problem. Therefore, it is not practical to issue an error message or shut down the printer/encoder each time there is a failure to encode. When purchasing a smart label printer/encoder, choose one that allows you to adjust the number of encoding retries to program the smart label before sending an error message.
3. Best practices for proper label placement
• Proximity to metal and liquid should be avoided
• Care should be given to protect the label against excessive contact
• Consideration should be given to how cases are staked on pallets to maintain sufficient distance between smart labels
Conduct testing to determine the optimum smart label placement from the bottom of the pallet. For shrink-wrapped pallets, place smart labels on the outside of the wrap. Bands used to hold pallets or wrappers in place should not wrap around the labels
Businesses across the world print and encode millions of smart labels every year. Most problems that do arise occur because of a few common conditions that are easily resolved. Many problems can be avoided entirely by training associates on the leading causes of smart label failure. Action taken before deploying the system can also save errors and downtime. Selecting an intelligent, programmable printer / encoder can help optimize operations because the organisation can set the unit to support desired processes for error resolution and alert notification.
